Investigative reports filed in Taney County Circuit Court indicate former Kanakuk Kamp director Pete Mewman indulged in naked truth or dare games with an underage boy at the Big Cedar Lodge in Taney County, and had mutual masturbation sessions with a 12-year-old at the K Dome, a place of worship for Kanakuk Kampers.
The reports were placed in the court record this week as new felony sex charges were filed against Newman.
According to a report, a signed statement was received from a father Sept. 28, including the following information told to the father by his son:
"In March 2004, he and Pete were at the Kamp (in the off season) and went to the condo on the grounds where they engaged in mutual masturbation." The boy was 12 years old.
In March 2005, following a Kanakuk event, Newman talked the boy into going to his home and using the hot tub jets to "stimulate themselves," according to the report.
In December 2006, the report says, the boy met with Newman at another camp director's home and when they were alone "they would get naked in front of each other and engage in mutual masturbation. During the same time, they went to stay at the Big Cedar Lodge where they would play 'Truth or Dare'and run around naked in front of each other." The report said they would stimulate each other with the water jets in the hot tub and then masturbate each other. The boy was 15 at the time.
"Pete would always tell him what they did together was ok because they were together and not thinking about females. Pete would always remind him not tell anyone, especially his parents."
In another report, taken at the Child Advocacy Center Oct. 2, a 14-year-old told investigators that in 2008 when the boy was 13, he and Newman engaged in mutual masturbation and Newman tried to convince the boy to perform oral sex on him.
"Pete would always remind him not to tell anyone and would often call him weeks or months later to see if he had told anyone about what they did and then would ask if he was ready to do it again.
The report indicates sexual activities took place even when Newman was staying at the boy's residence.
On another occasion, during a father and son retreat, "Pete took him from the cabin where he and his father were staying in and went to a vacant cabin where they engaged in mutual masturbation."
Another report taken at the Child Advocacy Center describes Newman taking a 12-year-old boy to the K Dome, a place of worship for Kanakuk Kampers, for a mutual masturbation session. Newman allegedly also had oral and anal sex with the 12-year-old in a motel room during a spiritual retreat.
***
(Randy Turner's new book, Newspaper Days, is available at Amazon.com
Ok, are we still standing around singing Kum-ba-ya for poor little Peter ????????
ReplyDeleteYou people who are still saying he just has the same potential for evil that we all have- do you still see it that way?? Are you still saying that this sickness is just like all the rest of us, that any of us could fall into this behavior at any time???? PLEASE, Idiots!!!!!!
This sin is not like other sin. If you feel it is, then send your little children down to Memphis (or wherever the pervert is) and let your kids stay with him for a couple weeks. Won't matter that Katie is there--she seems to have no clue what's going on under her nose.
If you still support him, then SHUT UP and don't make people have to listen to you!
To all of you who are his victims: YOU are the ones I feel so sad for. God will bring justice soon! I believe that!
Have these investigators/prosecuting attorneys not interrogated his wife??????????????????
ReplyDeleteIf not, seems like a pretty good idea. Not suggesting she is an accomplice at all, but she MUST know something. If she "doesn't", then I would be highly suspicous.
Randy, as a Kanakuk mama I thank you for your updates. My children knew Pete Newman well, or, rather, thought they did. My husband and I are following this case closely. Is there another searchable online site in addition to case.net? We're looking for the probable cause/warrant app for the new charges, ie- the affidavit you refer to in this post.
ReplyDeleteThere is some documentation at the Springfield News-Leader site.
ReplyDeleteAs the previous commenter noted, there is a link on the Springfield News-Leader website.
ReplyDeleteAre these 7 charges found on the Springfield News Leader site IN ADDITION to the previous 4???
ReplyDeleteYou said 10, but casenet only shows 4...then these 7????????????????
Once he's proven guilty of all these crimes, would his sentences be served back to back, or simultaneously?
ReplyDeleteCan anybody out there shed some light as to how long he'll stay in prison if he's found guilty?
Apparently he committed many of the same type of crimes in other states, so do they do their own prosecutions?
Finding it harder to believe the authorities at Kanakuk never had any indication of any inappropriate behaviour. I'm so mad we sent our child there last summer. He wasn't harmed, but obviously that is only because we were lucky, not because the camp could protect him.
ReplyDeleteTaney County has been notoriously slow in some instances in updating case.net
ReplyDeleteThere was indication of inappropriated behavior many years ago. From what I understand (heresay, for sure) he was asked to sign a contract agreeing to refrain from inappropriate contact with youth and this contract stemmed from some questionable behavior brought to light by a camper or camper parent. But, as I said, heresay.
ReplyDeleteI still maintain Kanakuk camps didn't know about this or he would have been gone long ago!! If he could do this with a dad in a nearby cabin, it could happen without his boss knowing it who works at another campus. You have to understand the ability this man had with people. When he would come to visit your children, you felt so blessed (obviously not the case) and people encouraged their children to spend time with him because he was this unbelievable spiritual coach and full of humor and personality. He was an amazing speaker and made each family feel like they were truly special to him. I remember thinking, "my boys are with Pete getting ice cream. How great is that!" He was the person that baptized our children. He prayed with us. He had such knowledge of the Bible and brought it to life for our sons. While not at camp, he encouraged our boys to read their Bible every single night and fill a journal with their prayers and thoughts. In reading those journals, the prayers and verses were amazing. So as a parent, I thought, wow, my kids are reading their Bible each night. I thought, "I could never get them to do that. Only a man like Pete could." So you can see how parents and co-workers, his wife, etc. could all be fooled. He started programs at Kanakuk that were amazing. He had an ability with people that I have never seen before. I completely trusted him and now I feel so foolish. But I am not alone. Luckily, my children did not have one on one time with him. If they had, I'm sure we'd be a victim too. In some way, all the families that trusted their kids with him are victims. We feel betrayed. My kids faith is shattered. They no longer read their Bible every night. They don't want to. How sad is that? Thanks Pete for doing irreparable harm to my family. I don't know if we will ever recover from what you have done to all of these innocent boys. You are truly beyond scary. The tears these children have shed over this is heartbreaking.
ReplyDeleteI knew Pete before and outide of his Kanakuk era. There was definitely something off about the way he acted. His actions around young kids and personal mannerisms (his voice sounded like someone off Straight Eye for the Queer Guy) were topics of conversation among acquaintances. There was nothing that made you say he was definitely this kind of person, but if you asked someone you knew him outside of his "church circle" who the most likely person you know who might be a pedophile, Pete would have been everyone's answer. Once he got to Kanakuk, maybe being involved with such a well-respected organization and coming from such a well-respected family helped deflect all the warning signs.
ReplyDeleteWell, he must have been acting then. He was definitely good at acting. Because he was nothing like that at Kanakuk. Very masculine, ran the football clinic, booming voice and very fit. Looked like he worked out all the time. Kampers used to comment on how many push ups, etc he could do. Nothing "queer eye for the straight guy" about him there. But he used to play lots of parts for skits and was extremely gifted in that arena. So I guess he was just acting like the big football playing macho man kind of guy. He was a super hero to young boys at camp. He used to email and write my boys about all the NFL games and which teams were better. They used to pretend argue over who was better, his team or theirs. etc..
ReplyDeleteI will say that he was very fit and a good athlete, but to hear masculine or "booming voice" and Pete in the same sentence is funny to me.
ReplyDeleteThe "he was a great guy" "seemed to good to be true" "everyone loved him" "he was full of personality and everyone wanted to be around him" descriptions of Pete Newman are very stereotypical of many pedophiles. Children would run from a scary person...wouldn't be interested in being around someone unkind or who wasn't fun. It is because of these personality traits that he was able to commit these heinous crimes and get away with them for so long. Befriending the families of the boys was necessary to his success as a pedophile. Without the approval of the parents, he could get no where near these kids. Unfortunately, I can only imagine the confusion all of this caused these boys...they on some level were most likely uncomfortable with what Pete was asking them to do...but, thought "everyone loves him"..."my parents think he's great"...so maybe it's OK or I should go along with him. This is why this guy is the worst kind of criminal. He used Kanakuk, the parents of campers and worst of all God to manipulate these children while fulfilling his deviant desires. It is imperative this guy be put behind bars for a long, long time...if not for life. These sorts of deviant disorders are almost always incurable. For those interested in forgiveness...well he can be forgiven by God and anyone else while he is in prison!
ReplyDeleteAs for Kanakuk Kamp...I only hope and pray they were not aware of even any SMALL INKLING of a POSSIBILITY of Pete Newman's nature. If they did...they should be shut down tomorrow.
A previous post
ReplyDeleteThe camp administration obviously would not have known THIS was happening, or they would certainly have intervened. However, parents have complained to them about Pete's inappropriate behavior since the beginning of Pete's leadership days. It's a matter of record. They knew he liked naked kids and being naked with kids at least 8 years ago. He was reprimanded, counseled, warned, and made to agree to a new set of guidelines to prevent these inappropriate acts from happening again. There were big signs back then. It's just that Pete was so convincing that he was a genuine nice guy who just wanted to have fun with kids. He is a dangerously-great actor. These victims would not be victims if he was fired when the inappropriate actions began. However, he is a sex addict and would have been doing it somewhere else. This is what we can expect if he is allowed to walk free. Obviously, he can talk anyone into believing anything. It would be easy for him to return to this lifestyle if he gets out. Somebody needs to intervene and rescue his daughter out of that dangerous situation. His wife must be in denial if she's still with him. The longer she supports him, the more she looks like an accomplice. We know she's not, but it sure looks horrifically irresponsible for her to back him. Once he's in prison, she will need to get on with her life but it will be harder if she is still supporting a proven serial pedophile. She must be the most naive person!
what are the next steps in this case...trial..pleadings, etc. i would like to know, but really have no idea.
ReplyDeleteThanks
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Rom. 3:23; we must not forget in our pain, bitterness, hurt, that Jesus died even for this man. This could be a way in a sad, devastating way, that He discovers why Jesus really had to die. We will never know as the public if he ever understands that or ever did understand that, but can trust it is not our job to know.
ReplyDeleteHe could NOT have grasped that TRUTH while doing what he did. The Spirit of God that dwells within a saved person would have stopped him.
ReplyDeleteI wonder which "Anonymous" is really Pete still trying to weave his web of lies and sway peoples opinion the way he has for the last 10 years. I bet he is reading and posting everyday on all of these posts......
ReplyDeleteI may be the only K-Kountry parent whose son just didn't like Pete at all, and he was never alone with him. Pete just gave my son the creeps, especially when he set his own chest hair on fire during his Christian testimony for some strange reason. Looking back at pictures and videos, I can see now that Pete was very narcissistic. I praise God daily that He gave my then 9 year old son discernment beyond his years. That was his only year at K-Kountry, and he switched to another Kanakuk kamp after that. Now, he doesn't want to go back to kamp at all, which I totally understand.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad your 9 yr old son had that discernment b/c no one else, including Joe White, numerous staff leadership, counselors, and thousands of people who "knew" (or thought they did) him ever once suspected anything but good from him.
ReplyDeleteTHAT deception is as much a crime as the molestation, I think. WHO CAN LIE THAT WELL?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!
If you were ever a friend/family member/wife/parent/co-worker/etc. of his', you were lied to. The Pete you thought you knew never really existed. His whole life was a lie. His persona was a lie.
This is terrible sick and scary. I've heard of pathologial liars and sociopaths, but I never knew one until him. I still can't believe it.
When the news first broke, I really believed that Pete had fallen to temptation but truly loved God. As time passes and more "information" comes to light, I'm beginning to believe that perhaps Pete was a true pedophile.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the poster who said that all of us who trusted him were betrayed regardless of whether our sons where physical victims. I don't agree that one-on-one time would have led to molestation in all cases though. My two boys say he never did anything inappropriate with them and they both had one-on-one time with Pete away from kamp, including sleepover time.
This whole thing is so confusing!!!!